Piecing Together Rhen

[gtwucla]

I've illustrated some of the maps for Rhen, but decided that maybe one huge map would be better. I don't have a whole lot of experience with this, so I thought I'd pause and put this out there on the forum for a second opinion (also, I'm not so happy about my mountains- I don't know if it's that the ridge lines being too defined, the shading is too much, or I'm just staring at it too much). The plan is to sketch it out in pencil and then go over it in pen, and then scan it. I figure having a large map resized into a smaller size would bring out a lot of detail and then for region descriptions I could zoom into certain areas and blur the edges. As I was sketching though I started to think, when I shade in pen is this going to look good?

Anyway, that's the skinny. Any thoughts and/or feedback would be great, thanks!

[Durakken]

Scan at the highest dpi you can. (dots per inch/pixels per inch) 300dpi is print resolution (Web resolution standard is 72), but the higher original resolution the more you can increase the image size later while still getting the quality you want.
Let's say you have a 10 in^2 picture and you want to blow it up to 2 times the size (20 in^2) without losing resolution what you need to do is scan at 1200 dpi and then when you print it out it will be the same quality, but obviously since you are working in a larger space you can now add more in.

Also, a suggestion, don't go over it in pen before you scan it. Pencils can be decently cleaned up in PS (and i think GIMP) with the Curves tool. Play with that first and if you can't get it the way you want then do the work of going over with pen.

[gtwucla]

Thanks! I think I can enlist the help of my wife with photoshop or GIMP. I was also thinking it may look better with a parchment background or some sort of filter of to try and give it more depth.

[gtwucla]

I've added more detail and used a stubby to smooth out the line work. The next task will be to smooth out the northern mountains and add some depth to the fjords. One issue I am running into though is hills. I've tried a couple of looks, but haven't been happy with any of them. I'm close to settling for labeling the area as 'hills' and showing rivers running from them. If I find a suitable look for the hills though, I'd rather go with drawing them out.

[gtwucla]

Is it possible to scan a pencil drawn map and create a stamp from drawn objects on the page (in this case trees)? And can i do it without creating a digital drawing of the trees? I'm drawing the forests right now and it is driving me insane, so any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[Abu Lafia]

Hi gtwucla, first of all great work so far! The mountain ridges and your coastline look fantastic . To your question. I know it can be a pain to draw zillions of trees so it's a good idea to make a tree brush. I only work with gimp, but there it should be no problem to create a brush ("stamp") from your scan. Just cut out the tree (maybe "clean" it a bit with a smooth eraser) and paste it into a new image, that you save as a brush file afterwards (.gbr). Make sure to search the net for some video tutorials on brush creation in gimp (or for photoshop, it should be roughly the same process), since ther may be some settings to be aware of, that i don't have in mind atm. For more variety it might be good to create different tree brushes (4 or 5) so the forests do not look too uniform later.

If you get stuck at some point don't hesitate to ask, there are always people around, willing to help you out (and i guess many are much more knowledgeable regarding brush creation than me ). Looking forward to see how it works. Keep up the good work!
CHeers,
AL

[gtwucla]

Thanks. I think I'll give it a go on Photoshop. Looks like I have a lot of tutorial watching in my future. In the meantime, the map is halfway penciled. If all goes well with the Photoshop learning, all the white spots in the middle of the forest should have trees too.

[gtwucla]

Northern Rhen in progress.JPG
Its coming together. This is the north side, still need to cut and paste a ton of trees. I think the mountains need some retouching and go over the ridge line with pencil.

[Abu Lafia]

Hey gtwucla, coming together fantastic indeed! Great to see a picture with a better overview. Just stay strong with the tree task, this finished map is going to be awesome!

[J.Edward]

Indeed, that is coming along nicely.
I agree with Abu. Nice work so far GT.